{"id":8733,"date":"2015-12-16T04:30:37","date_gmt":"2015-12-16T10:30:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/?p=8733"},"modified":"2015-12-14T09:42:02","modified_gmt":"2015-12-14T15:42:02","slug":"hold-those-pens-football-prospects-must-wait-to-sign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/hold-those-pens-football-prospects-must-wait-to-sign\/","title":{"rendered":"Hold those pens: Football prospects must wait to sign"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today was the day hundreds of elite high school football players were expected to start signing National Letters of Intent \u2013- the first day of the NCAA\u2019s new three-day early signing period for college football.<\/p>\n

But it wasn\u2019t to be.<\/p>\n

The Collegiate Commissioners Association, which administers the National Letter of Intent, was expected to vote on and pass the proposal last June during its annual conference in Asheville, N.C. Instead, the commissioners voted to table the issue until they meet again next summer.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would expect there would be something up or down [in a vote next year], but we\u2019ll see what the body wants,\u201d MAC commissioner Jon Steinbrecher, chairman of the committee that made the recommendation, told reporters after the decision last summer. \u201cPeople want to put this issue to bed, but they want to do it in the right way and do it in a thoughtful manner that takes into consideration all of the issues on the table.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many conferences were in favor of establishing an early signing period for football prospects who already had committed and didn\u2019t want to wait until the first Wednesday in February to sign. However, the December signing date, which coincides with high school football playoffs and college football bowl preparation, was cause for concern.<\/p>\n

\"Larry<\/a>
Larry Perrin, National Football Director for NSR, says he is not in favor of an early football signing period in December.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Larry Perrin, National Football Director for National Scouting Report, said he would prefer the signing date remain status quo.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a traditionalist,\u201d Perrin said. \u201cI like having the first Wednesday in February for National Signing Day. \u201cIt creates energy, excitement and anticipation. It also gives a little more time for some of the colleges to make decisions on prospects.\u201d<\/p>\n

Perrin said he still remembers the excitement generated during National Signing Day in February 2015.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was crazy,\u201d said Perrin, who doubles as NSR Area Director in Northern Mississippi. \u201cI was constantly sharing information with [college] coaches and prospects. Every [NSR] scout in the country was sharing information with me. But it was good crazy. The energy created that day was wonderful. [NSR] had such good coverage of it [on social media] and such success with prospects signing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Perrin sees the pros and cons of an early signing period.<\/p>\n

An early signing period would save college coaches time and money, not to mention lots of headaches. It would allow committed prospects to seal the deal seven weeks before the current signing date. It also would allow coaches to spend more time on uncommitted prospects and less on committed ones who may be reconsidering.<\/p>\n

In addition, signing early would speed up the recruiting process.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe biggest D-I schools get most of their commitments early,\u201d Perrin said. \u201cThe FCS, D-II, D-III and NAIA schools kind of catch what shakes out. An early signing date could open doors for some of those prospects who aren\u2019t on bigger college\u2019s [recruiting] boards. It also would give NSR another window of opportunity to promote them more.\u201d<\/p>\n

A small percentage of early signees who already have enough credits to graduate high school could enroll in college early, Perrin said. In the past, most signees waited until the summer. In the future, they could enroll in the spring.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a win-win for prospects and the coaches,\u201d Perrin said. \u201cThe prospects can get an early start in college, attend spring practices and participate in the offseason regimen.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, an early signing period also could cause problems for prospects and coaches.<\/p>\n

Some college coaches think the recruiting process already starts too early. They aren\u2019t comfortable offering scholarships to prospects they don\u2019t know very well. The addition of an early signing period could result in even more guesswork regarding players\u2019 character.<\/p>\n

An early signing period also would force earlier official visits to college campuses, which could conflict with high school football season. College coaches likely would pressure recruits to visit earlier, commit earlier and sign earlier \u2013 right in the middle of their senior season.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost official visits now come in January,\u201d Perrin said. \u201cCoaches have time to study film and evaluate prospects. There\u2019s a significant dead period at that time. When the dead period ends, many prospects take official visits and receive offers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Because the advantages outweigh the disadvantages, most college football administrators, coaches and recruiters agree that it\u2019s only a matter of time before the December signing period becomes reality \u2013 probably next summer. If so, the early period likely would start on a two-year trial basis, so conference commissioners can evaluate the effectiveness of the change.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it will pass eventually just to clear up some of the clutter on National Signing Day,\u201d Perrin said. \u201cIt will benefit the kids who want to enroll early and alleviate the pressure from the first Wednesday in February.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today was the day hundreds of elite high school football players were expected to start signing National Letters of Intent \u2013- the first day of the NCAA\u2019s new three-day early signing period for college football. But it wasn\u2019t to be. The Collegiate Commissioners Association, which administers the National Letter of Intent, was expected to vote … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[407,30,405,406,240,222],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8733"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8733"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8733\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8735,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8733\/revisions\/8735"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8733"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8733"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8733"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}